Weaverly

Catching Up, And a Weather Report

In our OLLI class, the weavers have completed their first brocade samplers. Here are just a few of them just after cutting off.

The weather was dreadful––torrential rains on Thursday––but most of the weavers made it to class. 

And then on Friday, a bit of a surprise. Snow.

In spite of the weather, Patti & I drove up to Asheville to see the Downton Abbey show at Biltmore House. The kitchen was especially endearing.

The costumes stole the show, as you might imagine. The wedding gowns were luscious, but my fave was this woolen fabric in a suit worn by Lady Edith. It was described as a herringbone, but to my eye it was definitely a double weave, a plain layer ad a twill layer, interchanged. Click to enlarge.

Can't resist a sewing machine, any time, anywhere.

Dinner, anyone? Check out the damask tablecloth. 

Back home, in the studio, I have finished hemming the most recent batch of towels. Some of them are Huck, some are various other weaves, all highly textured.

The striped borders are a little funky, but I am enjoying their randomness.

Some New Spinners

Yesterday was the penultimate spinning class of the Winter term at OLLI. We all got together in the lobby to show off some of the beautiful yarn produced by this enthusiastic group. 

 

Somehow Ruth got clipped from the right side of this video, but if you go to the following link, you can see the complete frame.

00:10FourSpinners

 

Here's a group shot. Left to right: Patti, Barbara, Susie, me, Lynn, and Ruth. Joyce is traveling.

Their yarn is awesome.

Back at home I added another entry to my Lampas diary. No text this time, just a repeat pattern from my files.

Birds and Other Matters

Yesterday morning the birds were more joyful than usual. Here's some birdsong to brighten your day. It certainly brightened mine!

Back in the studio, I'm shuffling the colors around in the 3-weft rotation in double twill. You saw the first version in this post; now here's the second version. Instead of red/gold/purple, I'm weaving gold/red/purple. It makes a huge difference. This is so much fun!

 

Me & My Shadow

Yesterday morning I went for a walk in the neighborhood. My shadow walked along beside me. The birds were going crazy. They make a great soundtrack.

My Fifteen Milliseconds of Fame

Still cleaning up in preparation for Open Studios. Yes, I know it's not until the weekend of Nov. 8, but the magnitude of the job demands extreme measures. And I am enjoying the newly uncovered work spaces and elbow room. And finding lost treasures. And I wanted the place to look interesting, not creepy, for the videographer who arrived to document me at work for a TV commercial promoting this year's event.

I did line up the yarn artistically on the shelves and arranged books and pillows, but Will Stewart was especially interested in the sounds of weaving for his video, so as I threw shuttles and plied the beater, he recorded the clinks, clanks, thumps, and shwooshes of a weaver at work. I can't wait to see (hear) the results.

 

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This chair was waiting for trash pickup all last week. I'd pass it every morning on my walk. 

Even got a good closup of the upholstery before the rains came.

Seems to me something very similar could be attempted on 4 shafts. 

Poor chair sat out in all kinds of weather. This is what we had last Friday. I wish I could have sent some of this to California.

 

This morning the chair was gone. It must have been pretty soggy by the time they got it.

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This morning I took some granite samples off the loom and I'm washing them. Looking forward to some surprises.

 

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After some serious thinking, I decided that the aroma of potato pancakes frying in oil was not my perfume of choice, and I went to plan B: potato kugel. Same ingredients, different format. It's looking good. Smells good, too.

I hope your holiday/holidays are happy, and that you drive safely to wherever, and that you get back to your looms soon. 

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Granny Day Swamp

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